ORIGINAL: Georg Matthews
Corsair Jock,You make my piont for me.If you are into banking and yanking then yes the lighter wing loading is for you.But in all honesty the full scale warbirds had some negitive tendencies when flown in this manner.I had the World models P-51 ARF and the higher wing loading of this model also showed some of the negitive tendencies of the full scale when flown in a sport manner.On the other hand my experience with the Hanger 9 warbirds (P-51, Corsair and P-47) have all shown some very forgiving performance qualities. But I believe these forgiving qualities subtract from the look and feel of flying a warbird in a scale manner.10+ g turns are not scale like even in a warbird.And as far as landing speeds, you are correct that the higher wing loading results in higher landing speeds and even more so when flown in a sport manner.But these higher landing speeds can be managed and a reduction in landing speed to more scale like speeds can be done with proper technique.
Have you ever been to a warbird airshow? Warbirds (even Corsairs) are surprisingly manuverable, and capable of rather tight turns (compared to many R/C warbirds). The Hellcat was even more manuverable. This has nothing to do with sport flying/ 3D/ forgiving qualities/ ease of landing and/ or takeoffs.
Look at it another way: landing speed of most WW II warbirds are in the 90 ~ 100 mph range. Since the modele we are talking about are roughly 1/7 ~ 1/8 scale: landing speeds should ideally be about 1/7 ~ 1/8 of that. Same for max spped: full scales are lucky to make 400 mph at sea level. That said, 1/7 ~ 1/8 scale warbirds should have top speeds in the 60 mph range or less.
But it is the manuverability (ability to turn sharply) that I am primarily talking about. About yes: WW II fighers DID turn abruptly, especially when an enemy was detected on it's 6 o'clock. I suggest that you attend the next full scale warbird show that you can, and study them some. Maybe then you will realize how manverable they really are, and how many R/C warbirds have such wide turns by comparison.
Say what you want, think what you want, but the Saito .91 powered H-9 Hellcat that I had flew more realistically than any other warbird that I have owned.
And saying that a warbird is better if it is heavier sounds like a lot of, well, the last word of the title of this thread.